Feb 20, 2016 5 min read

Nobody should be surprised Heath Miller chose to leave quietly.

Miller, who retired Friday, is without a doubt the best tight end in Steelers history, but he might also be the worst quote in Steelers history.

He was not the guy the media flocked to for the hottest quotes on hot subjects. Miller was always accommodating and polite, but he only gave you the bare minimum.

He made it clear by his non-answers he was only interested in talking about the Steelers a little more than he was interested in talking about himself. He figured out early if you give them nothing, they’ll eventually start ignoring you.

Some players make a big deal about not talking to the media, and they go out of their way to treat us like the scum we are, but Miller was only interested in one thing – playing football.

He never did a touchdown dance. Probably spent his 11 years working on it and unfortunately retired before he perfected it.

He might have spiked the ball a couple of times, but it’s hard to get that picture in my mind.

But, boy did he make a lot of big catches. He also threw some big blocks.

He took a lot of big hits, too. Every time he took one, I thought of his mother, Denise. I met her a couple of days after the 2005 draft, when I visited her and Heath’s dad, Earl, to do a TV story at their home in Swords Creek, Va.

Maybe you’ve never heard of Swords Creek. It’s a suburb of Honaker, Va.

One stoplight and, I believe, a gas station.

Denise told me she was thrilled for her son when the Steelers made him their No. 1 draft pick but she wasn’t looking forward to seeing him play. She said she always spent most of her time at his games looking down or covering her eyes, going back to his days as quarterback at Honaker High School.

She couldn’t stand the sight of him being hit.

It was easy to root for Miller after meeting his parents and talking to his high school coach and others in his hometown. They all talked about his toughness, his work ethic and his humility, and he put it all on display for 11 years in Pittsburgh.

And it was easy to see why and how he retired.

Miller is a smart guy who’s made millions of dollars. He has a wife and four kids and, at 33, he’s still healthy. He issued a classy thank you and goodbye with no drama and not even a news conference.

You can be sure nobody was happier than his mother.

Sports could use a few thousand more guys like Miller.

• The Steelers’ offense isn’t as good today as it was Thursday. It needs to find a replacement for what might have been a Hall of Fame tight end. For most of the last 11 seasons, Ben Roethlisberger has had one of top three tight ends in the league as a target and a blocker. Chances are pretty good that, no matter who replaces Miller, there will be a major dropoff at the position and it’s one more key player inherited by coach Mike Tomlin who has to be replaced and developed.

Tomlin’s teams have won one playoff game in the last five years, and it would be none if not for two of the stupidest and most selfish plays in NFL history committed by two Cincinnati Bengals last month.

Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, James Farrior, Brett Keisel, Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith, Hines Ward and Willie Parker were drafted and developed by former coach Bill Cowher. They helped Tomlin win a lot of games. So did James Harrison, who seems to be leaning toward coming back for another year. And let’s not forget Ben Roethlisberger.

Tomlin has proven he’s a good NFL head coach, but there haven’t been many coaches who had players like that waiting for him when they showed up for their first day of work.

He still has to do what most successful NFL coaches have done – prove that he can win with players brought in and developed by him.

• What’s going on with all the ridiculously lopsided high school girls basketball games? There are multiple examples of leagues that require coaches to prevent blowouts from becoming too “humiliating.” The most recent was in Las Vegas, where Centennial led Bonanza 51-2 at the half and went the entire second half without making a shot. They passed the ball around to kill the clock and committed lane violations on purpose on free throws. One player stood in the backcourt and spun the ball on her finger for the last 1:06 of the game.

The final was 51-2, so Centennial succeeded in staying within the league rule which prohibits a team from winning by more than 49.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather lose 151-2 than receive that kind of mercy.

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.